The Anglican Church of

St. Thomas, Kefalas.

 

We are the only Anglican church on Crete. However, all Christian denominations are welcome at our services. We are situated within the Apokoronas area of Crete, east of Chania, in the picturesque rural village of Kefalas.

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We hope that this website will guide you around the Parish - our worship, events and organisations and contact points for any further information.

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"Καλό ΠάσΧα!

It's Easter - Again!"

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​Good Saturday morning!

We celebrated Easter last Sunday, following the western calendar calculation for the date, whereas the Eastern Orthodox Church, including the Greek Orthodox, celebrates it tomorrow. Why is that?

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The Council of Nicaea in 325 CE passed a rule that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox. Some of you may recall that the Equinox was March 20; the full moon was on April 1, so we celebrated Easter on Sunday April 5. However, while this date fits the astronomical calculation, it is not so straightforward. 

As the equinox can vary by a day or two, the folks responsible for the calculation 1500 years ago simply adopted the convention that, for the purposes of calculation, March 21 would always be the Spring Equinox. Likewise, the regularity of the full moon could be calculated, but for the purposes of calculating the date they rounded off the length of the lunar month (no fraction of a day, please) so that the ecclesiastical new moon would sometimes be off by one or two days from what was happening in the sky. This was all fine for the most part, so long as Easter fell more or less on the Sunday after the first full moon after the Equinox. 

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There was a problem, though, which became apparent by the early modern times. The Julian calendar. in place since the time of Julius Caesar, was increasingly out of step with what was going on in the sky. Already by 725 CE the Venerable Bede observed the drift, and that the astronomical Spring Equinox was several days earlier than March 21; by the 16th century it was ten days earlier. Pope Gregory XIII had his astronomers do some very careful measurements and they determined how to make a modification that would keep the civil calendar in step with the stars, sun, and moon. This was the Gregorian Calendar, which was adopted by England in 1752. It involved a one-time loss of ten days in 1582, and eleven in 1752. When Greece adopted the Gregorian Calendar for civil purposes in 1923, when Wednesday 15 February was followed by Thursday 1 March 1923. 

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The Eastern Orthodox Church objected to this for two reasons. First, they felt that such changes really should only be made by a universal council of the church; as the church was divided, such a council could not be held. Second, they were opposed to pretty much any initiative coming from the Roman Pontiff and western Europe, still being rather sore about the Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Thus, the Orthodox continue to calculate Easter using an ecclesiastical full moon that is several days off; this results in Orthodox Easter being the same as western Easter about 30% of the time (as was the case last year); one week later 40% of the time (as we see this year) and three or four weeks later all the other years. 

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Of course, we are in the midst of the Fifty Days of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, so we celebrate the Resurrection every day, and every Sunday through the year is a little Easter.

 

Some of us will join our Orthodox neighbours tonight for the Service of Light at the Easter Vigil - the point is to celebrate the new life we have in Christ. Many of us have found it quite convenient to celebrate Easter on two different dates. 

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So we are at it again tomorrow, which for us is the Second Sunday of Easter. Please join us at 11:00 am EET, either in-person or via Zoom. To get into the Zoom room click here, or, if you prefer, you can type or copy https://zoom.us/j/91269383194 into your browser, or, sign in to your Zoom account and use the Meeting ID: 912 6938 3194; there is no passcode, just a waiting room as a security feature.

 

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Below are the readings for Sunday. You can get the full text by clicking on the links, and if you click on "The Psalm and the Hymns" you can download a PDF of the lyrics and psalm texts for that day.

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12 April

The Second Sunday of Easter
(Orthodox Easter)

 The Psalm and the Readings 
Exodus 14:10-31, 15:20-21
Psalm 16
Acts 2:14a,22-32
  John 20:19-31
 

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​I remind you that we are almost entirely dependent upon the sacrificial giving of our members, and so we provide opportunities at our services for people to make an offering in support of the work of the church. Among the means of making an offering we have a POS ("Point of Sale") contactless card reader with which you can use you credit or debit card. Thank you for your constant endorsement of having a chaplaincy of the Diocese in Europe here in Crete. ​​

 

May you be blessed in these fifty days of the Resurrection.

Bruce +

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Announcements

 

URGENT REQUEST

Spring Cleaning of Tabernacle Roller Panels 

 

Following the recent Sahara Dust Storm,the Tabernacle roller panels require URGENT cleaning

 

I suggest that we get together on Saturday the 18th of April at 10.30 am 

to clean the most badly affected panels to keep OUR Church looking respectable for the Spring & Summer

 

All Volunteers would be gladly appreciated and refreshments will be available 

 

We look forward to seeing you.

 

           David

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Spring Church Lunch 

 

Regretfully we have decided to postpone the Spring Church Lunch planned for 19 April until a few more people are available to attend. Various members of the congregation have other commitments or plans for this date and interest has been very limited so far

 

We thought that a Summer Church Lunch could be arranged at a taverna for mid-June 

when we could invite church visitors and the weather ideal for Al Fresco dining?

 

Thank you for your understanding

 

Mary

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PrayerNet

 

Do you know of someone who could use some prayer?

 

We have an international network of people we call PrayerNet, and its members pray for the sick and other concerns, and give thanks for recovery and other good news.

 

Contact Sue Whitehouse at suewhitehouse1808@gmail.com if you wish to join those of us who receive regular updates and pray, or to make requests.

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​​The Wednesday Night Online Study Group invites you to join them in the eight week Sanctuary Course. As the website explains, "The Sanctuary Course is for anyone who wants to learn about faith and mental health. It requires no previous training or expertise—just a willingness to engage in dialogue with other believers." There is a coursebook available online as a PDF - click here to get your copy. We will continue to look at the role of companionship in mental health this Wednesday 15 April, 2026 at 7:30 PM EET (5:30 PM GMT if you are in the UK).

 We meet for ninety minutes of discussion and prayer at https://zoom.us/j/95398454424 (Zoom Meeting ID: 953 9845 4424); no passcode is needed.

 

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